September, 2006

It would only be appropriate to post about this while I’m watching it. I’m in the middle of it now. This is amazing.

One of the main characters is into circuit bending and related stuff, which is executed well since the actor is just playing himself and the props are actually his own instruments. And he’s working on a goofy networking/video/music project in the movie, whose finished product is used as segways throughout the movie. Everything about the way this movie is made serves its subject. Anyway, we’re going to screen this at the gallery at some point.

We had light drinkers at the reception, so we’re having a small finish-off-the-keg party tonight (Tues Sept 26) at the gallery from 7pm – 9:30pm. If you missed the show and want to see it or just want some free Shiner, feel free to stop by.

LOL screened at the Sidewalk film festvial this weekend and won. My friend who was there called me last night freaking out about it. The online trailer doesn’t do it any justice from what he told me. It’s this crazy, chaotic, shot-on-video, improvised movie about computer nerds completely obsessed with computers and pr0n, with a soundtrack that’s mostly MIDI files.

Almost forgot to post this: we’re playing a show tomorrow at Bolm Studios in Austin, as part of Cinematexas. Also, JODI will have an installation, and I think Dirk will be speaking around 6:30. We play at 8:00. My understanding is that the show is free, and doesn’t require a Cinematexas badge.

And we’ll be having artist talks at 6pm with Michael Bell-Smith and also Dirk Paesmans of the influential deconstructive Internet/video game art collective, JODI!!

JODI is a pioneer of Internet art who created net-art that questioned the nature of the Internet and browser before most people were familiar the Internet. More recently they have been working with hacks, exploits, and glitches in modern first-person-shooter video games. This is a preview of a talk that Dirk will be giving in a few weeks at the MOMA, so don’t miss it.

Michael Bell-Smith is a New York-based video artist who appropriates or emulates video and images from video games and television, tears them apart, and reconstructs them into seamless video loops that are isolated from the original content. Read his recent review in the New York Times.